Description

A charming print after a drawing by Charles Catton. The drawings “from nature” were done in the late eighteenth century by Catton, showing exotic and domestic animals such bears, lions, badgers, ermines, and monkeys. The prints were made by aquatint etching, an elaborate process popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The use of aquatint gives these prints a delicate detail and texture that well captures the charm of the original drawings. The prints were originally issued in 1788 in London and then in the early nineteenth century the original plates somehow made it to New Haven where the series was reprinted by H. Howe, a local bookseller and publisher. Both editions are quite rare and the prints are most unusual and a lot of fun.